


'Cause my love will still be here

by WafflesAndPancakes



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alex is an artist, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Dan is a music student, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Lewis is a fashing design student, M/M, MAX IS NOT A PEDO THE QUOTE FROM THE SUMMARY IS DAN BEING DRUNK, Max is a model, Nico is a model too, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Young Love, this ain't gonna be fun, who am I kidding mostly, you will hate me for this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 07:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21096014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WafflesAndPancakes/pseuds/WafflesAndPancakes
Summary: “I’ll drive you home.”“Mommy said I’m not allowed to go home with strangers.”The guy laughed and started leading them to his car.“I’m Max, what is your name?”“I’m Dan.”“So, Dan, now we know each other, will you let me drive you home?”Dan falls in love with Max. How couldn't he? Max is a model, he is beautiful and kind, he is an angel between demons. He is everything Dan has ever wanted. But life doesn't play that way. Life doesn't care about what you want. Life gives and takes whatever it wants. Sometimes, it breaks an angel's wings.





	'Cause my love will still be here

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't hate me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan recounts his first encounter with Max and their first date, a point where everything had been fine.

His fingers were shaking as they stroked over the strings, a slight smile on his lips. In front of him, the audience started to cheer, screaming as they recognized the song. They did not know the story behind it, they only knew the lyrics. They did not know the pain he had felt when he wrote the song. And still, even though there were so many feelings tied to the song, it made him smile. It were the memories that were connected to it which made him happy because he knew that it had been a great time back then, that it was the best they could have made from their situation. He was still in love with him, even after so many years, even after many more relationships. His eyes looked up from the guitar, looking at the sea of people in front of the stage, people who loved him and his songs.

“You know, the person this song is about, they were great. I’ve met them at a party many years ago, and that night… It truly changed my life. I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. This one's for you, Angel,” he whispered into the microphone, taking a deep breath before starting the song once more, mesmerizing the crowd.

_“What would I do / If I had not met you? / Who would I blame my life on?”_

~o~

The loud music was banging in his ears, his heart was beating in the same beat as the music, his body was moving on his own between the bodies on the dance floor. Dan had drunk a bit, of course, he had, it was Lewis’ birthday they were celebrating, and he had already reached the stage of swaying numbly through the masses. He did not know where Lewis was, he had lost his best friend at some point in the night, but he was quite sure that wherever he was, he would be in Nico’s company, either fighting or making out. And whatever it was, Dan was sure he did not want to be around the two of them.

A wave of nausea hit him as he tumbled from the dance floor, originally in the direction of the bar to fetch another drink, but the urge to purge made him go another way, away from the bar and to the front door. He somehow managed to get his jacket from the cloakroom before getting outside, leaning against the cold stone brick wall. He took a deep breath, feeling how the sick feeling went away, but as soon as he took another step, he felt another wave hit him, forcing him to stop once again. Dan closed his eyes, the world seemed to turn around him, and he could feel himself slowly slide down the wall as an arm was flung around his waist, holding him upright.

“Hey, are you okay?”

It took him all of his strength to open his eyes again, only to look into a pair of blue, worried eyes. The man in front of him was cute, around the same age as him, with strong facial features and a bit of beard stubble. His voice was slightly accented, and Dan knew that he was not from Australia or another English-speaking country. He also knew that he had seen the guy before when Lewis and he had been at the fair that was in town, how he had looked at him a few times as they passed each other. He had the face to be a model, and Dan had found himself looking at his bum every time they had passed each other. He was weak for good-looking people.

“Uh-huh… Just a bit… tipsy.”

The other man smiled slightly, still holding him upright.

“A bit tipsy, you say… If I let go of you now, would you be able to stand up straight?”

Dan nodded but as soon as the guy let go of him, he stumbled forward and nearly kissed the ground, but the man had already grabbed him again, keeping him from falling over.

“I’ll drive you home.”

“Mommy said I’m not allowed to go home with strangers.”

The guy laughed and started leading them to his car.

“I’m Max, what is your name?”

“I’m Dan.”

“So, Dan, now we know each other, will you let me drive you home?”

Dan rolled his eyes, but as he looked at the car, he started to like the idea of being driven home instead of walking the whole way. With a sigh, he nodded once more, and Max started to manhandle him into the car, making sure that his seatbelt was on properly before closing the door, walking around the car to get into the driver’s seat.

“Where do you live?”

As he did not get an answer, Max turned to look at Dan, only to see that the other man had fallen asleep already. Max sighed and shook his head, smiling at the angelic expression on Dan’s face.

“Guess you’ll come with me, huh?”

~

When Dan woke up the next morning, the sun was shining directly into his eyes, forcing him to screw them shut quickly. He had a pounding headache, clearly from drinking maybe a bit too much the evening prior, and it had not gotten any better from the sun. Only slowly he remembered what had happened and he opened his eyes again, turning his head so he would not look into the sunlight again, quickly lifting the blanket. A sigh escaped him as he noticed that he was still fully dressed. Thank god, he had not fucked it up completely.  
He sat up slowly, grabbing the glass of water from the nightstand, emptying it in one go. He took a deep breath and got up, quietly leaving the room and walking through the apartment. It was decorated with a modern touch, held in mostly black and white interior and minimalistic flair. He let his gaze wander across each room, feeling kind of left alone.

“Hello?”

Dan looked around a corner and sighed in relief as he noticed another person standing in the kitchen, stopping in his motions as he noticed that it was not Max but a different guy. He was lankier than Max, taller and with a smaller frame, and with darker skin, though not as dark as Lewis’ skin. He turned around, coffee cup in his hands, only raising an eyebrow.

“Max is on a run. Pretty sure he will be home soon.”

Dan was surprised by his cold voice, but nodded slightly, looking around nervously.

“Where did he…”

“He slept in my bed. We normally sleep in his but… I guess his way occupied.”

An awkward silence fell over them and Dan started to shuffle around on his spot, biting his lower lip.

“I, uhm… should go home then, I guess.”

“Good idea.”

Making his way to the front door, Dan jumped back when the door opened. A sweaty Max entered the room, smiling happily as he got an eye on the other man.

“Hey, you’re awake! Let me just jump into the shower, I’ll drive you home.”

A snort could be heard from behind them, and Dan could only imagine how the guy rolled his eyes, but Max seemingly did not notice any of it, only smiling at him.

“Sit down while I get ready, maybe Alex will be so nice and give you a cup of coffee.”

Needless to say, Dan did not get a coffee.

~

They drove in silence to Dan’s flat at the other end of the town, enjoying the silent music from the radio. Dan closed his eyes, humming to the song, swaying from side to side. It was a love song or something along that line, a simple, acoustic song about someone who lost their loved one. A smile was ghosting over his lips as he recognized the song, quietly singing the songtext, tapping his fingers on his leg.

“You know that song? I thought the artist was only known in Europe.”

He opened his eyes again and looked at Max, studying in facial expression.

“You get to know quite a lot when you’re studying music.”

“Music? Sounds cool, tell me more.”

“What do you want to hear? I can play the guitar, I can read music sheets and I have a big knowledge of different artistic periods. It’s quite boring, mate.”

Max smiled and looked at him for a second before looking at the road again, turning left, heading onto the road where Dan was living.

“It sounds interesting when it’s coming from your mouth…”

“Trying to compliment me, Mister?”

“Maybe.”

They parked in front of the apartment building, but none of them moved, just sitting next to each other, looking at each other smiling. Dan smiled and opened his seatbelt before opening the door. He was about to get out of the car as he felt Max grabbing his wrist.

“May… I take you on a date?”

Dan looked at him for a minute, grinning brightly as he freed his wrist from Max’ hand.

“Saturday, 5 pm. You know where I live.”

With that, he turned around and closed the door, not stopping grinning while opening the door and going inside. He had a full-blown date with a hot guy… which he had met not even twelve hours before. Lewis would kill him.

~

“You? A date? With a ‘hot guy’ you don’t even know the last name of? Doesn’t sound safe to me, mate.”

Dan rolled his eyes, taking another sip from his beer while continuing to scroll through his Instagram feed. He had invited Lewis over for a boys night, talking like the gossip-loving people they were, but it had somehow turned into a talk about their love lives - and Dan did not want to hear about Nico more than he normally had to do, how beautiful he was, how his blue eyes sparkled in the sun when they were at the lake, how kind and what a sweetheart he could be when they were alone, and god forbid, the last thing Dan wanted to listen to were Lewis way too detailed descriptions of their sex. So he had decided to tell his best friend about Max, but Lewis, being overprotective as always, was not keen to hear about this very strange encounter.

“You don’t know him, Lewis.”

“I know him as much as you do, apparently.”

Lewis sighed and turned another page in his Vogue. Whereas Dan studied music in the hope of becoming a famous singer at some point, Lewis had taken on a different but not less creative route in his life, studying fashion design, going all-in for a job at a big fashion company. Sharing the bed with a model and son of a designer helped him climb the career ladder without even having finished his studies. And reading the Vogue seemed to be one of the criteria to be accepted into that kind of study (especially when your boyfriend was on the front page).

“I might change my opinion, I know more about him than you. If that’s him.”

He turned to magazine around to show the page he had been looking at, a big grin on his face as Dan’s eyes got big. Dan swallowed hard, taking the magazine out of Lewis’ hands to look closely at the page. It was him, it was Max, half-naked and surrounded by female models. A square in the bottom right corner held little information about the “upcoming star Max Verstappen”.

“Max Verstappen… He is a model..?”

“Nico told me about him, he is afraid that your loverboy might take his place.”

“Max is not my loverboy. A few minutes ago, you despised him and told me not to go on that date, what changed your mind?”

Lewis took his magazine out of Dan’s hands again and leaned back, flipping the page once more.

“I’ve now got an eye on him without a problem, Nico is nearly obsessed with him.” He looked up, eyes locking with Dan’s, a serious expression on his face. “But please, don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Lewis, you know me, I-”

“Exactly, I know you. That’s why I told you to behave.”

With that, he buried his nose inside his Vogue again, leaving Dan alone with his thoughts and a nervous feeling in his stomach, fearing the next day.

~

Dan was on his feet the second the doorbell rang, checking how his shirt was looking, running his fingers through his hair, before walking to the door and opening it. Max was standing in front of him, also wearing a shirt and a pair of dark jeans, and Dan had to make sure that he was not staring too much when they walked down the stairs and to Max’ car.

“Where are we going?”

Max smiled and opened the door for Dan, watching how he climbed into the car.

“It’s a surprise.”

The surprise was a pretty fancy restaurant in one of the more expensive corners of town, a restaurant that Dan normally would not have gone to since he did not have enough money to be able to buy anything more than a plain salad. Everything about the place screamed expensive and he stood in front of the door, biting his lip, not looking at Max when he came up to stand next to him.

“Is everything okay, Dan?”

“Can’t we… go somewhere different?

Max’ hand found his while his other hand found his cheeks, turning his head into his direction.

“Why?”

“It’s just… it’s so expensive and… I won’t be able to pay you back in any kind… I don’t want to feel like your sugar babe.”

Soft fingers were caressing his cheek, stroking a curl out of his face.

“You won’t be my sugar babe. And don’t worry about the money, okay?”

Dan swallowed hard and nodded slightly, his eyes meeting Max’, relaxing as he saw the reassurance in the blue eyes. They entered the restaurant together, still holding hands, only parting as they arrived at their table and sat down. Max looked at him after they had ordered, smiling softly at him, and leaned back slightly.

“So I take that you already know what I do for a living?”

“Yeah… my best mate recognized you…”

Max laughed and shook his head slightly, eyes sparkling as they met Dan’s.

“Well, now I don’t need to make the whole thing awkward by telling you what my job is.”

Dan grinned, finally being able to relax completely, and let his hand slowly slide over the table as their conversation continued, putting his hand on Max’, intertwining their fingers without breaking the conversation. He felt Max gently squeeze his hand as their food appeared, letting go of his hand, and Dan already missed the feeling of Max’ hand in his.

~

“I still won’t let you treat me like your sugar babe, Max, just so that is clear.”

They had decided to go for a walk after their dinner and Dan had wanted to show Max his favorite place of town, so they had driven out into nature, their trip ending on a hill from which you could look over the whole city. Dan turned to look at Max, who did not stop looking at the horizon, and he noticed that he could spend hours looking at Max, studying his features while the sun was setting.

“I had never the intention to do so, don’t worry.”

Max turned to look at him, smiling ever so brightly as the whole evening already, before looking at the horizon again.

“This… reminds me of the evenings we spent at the beach when I was a child… Back in Holland…”

“You didn’t tell me why your family decided to move here.”

Dan walked closer, putting a hand on Max’ shoulder, feeling how tense his muscles were. He sighed and turned to look at the Aussie again, the smile had disappeared, leaving a somewhat empty look in his eyes.

“My dad… he had gotten a new job here… He had hoped for a better salary than in Europe…” The Dutch took a step make so that Dan’s hand fell from his shoulder, swallowing and taking a deep breath. “Dan, my life isn’t as good as it seems. I’m not a knight in a shining armor, I'm not a pure and innocent angel, I’m not as flawless as all the magazines portray me to be. I’m not the guy you may think I am…” Their eyes locked once more, and Dan could see the fear and sadness in the other’s eyes. “If you don’t want this, you can g-”

Dan pressed his lips onto Max’, shutting him up as a result, his hands cupping his cheeks as Max’ hands found his waist. He pulled him closer, and Dan leaned his forehead together as he broke their kiss, staring into Max’ sparkling eyes

“I... would like to do this again.”

Dan smiled and kissed him again, the kiss only broken by Max’ giggles.

“I meant the date, but the kisses are nice too.”

~o~

_“I’d like to believe that I’d do it again / And again and again”_

Dan bit his lip, raising his head to let his eyes wander across the people in front of him, about the faces, showing so many different emotions; Some were crying, some were smiling as if they were pitying him, some were just happy to see their favorite artist finally live. He looked to the side, a part of the stage that was hidden from the public, where he knew that Lewis was standing. Lewis was smiling too, but his smile was broken, twisted into a pained expression. They shared the pain, Lewis had always understood him when it came to Max, had known how much it hurt when you lost a person you cared about. A small nod came from him, giving him a thumbs-up, encouraging him to do the thing he knew the Aussie wanted to do. Dan smiled slightly and turned to face his audience again, taking a deep breath before speaking.

“I’ve been asked the same question every now and then in the past few years. Interviewers, fans, even friends came up to me and asked me: ‘You’re songs, the quiet ones, the ones that aren’t like you at all, they must be inspired by other people. What are the stories behind the songs? How many people have broken your heart that you can feast so much from your experiences?’ Until now, I’ve just told them that you have a lot of experience with having relationships when you’re on tour for a majority of the year…” A smile crossed his face, a quiet laugh forming in his throat. “But, you know, it weren’t multiple people. It was a single person that I’ve loved with all my heart, and whom I’ll forever love. Not only this song was about them, but all of the songs are. It’s… It’s a way of keeping them alive. Making them immortal. Writing them down on paper so that I’ll never forget them.”

**Author's Note:**

> Work name from "Heart of Stone" by Six - The Musical  
Chapter name and lyrics in the chapter from "What would I do?" by Falsettos


End file.
